Madagascar: Locals allege State complicity with QMM on wastewater discharges and whistleblowers arrests
Summary
Date Reported: 4 Nov 2021
Location: Madagascar
Companies
QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) (part of Rio Tinto)Affected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Human Rights Defender: ( Number unknown - Madagascar - Sector unknown , Gender not reported )Issues
Complicity , Protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile , Access to Water , Clean, Healthy & Sustainable EnvironmentResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: News outlet
"State complicity with QMM: People Poisoning", 4 November 2021
[... T]he “Establishment Agreement” governing the QMM [was] signed on February 12, 1998 for a period of 25 years, and therefore expiring in 2023. It derogated from the legislative and regulatory texts in force and granted to QMM many advantages. The Malagasy state owns 20% of QMM's capital and has said it wants to audit QMM's accounts.
The Council of Ministers of February 10, 2021 decided to set up a QMM / Malagasy State discussion group, with a view to defining in particular the tax and customs regime applicable to QMM from 2023...
QMM discharges wastewater containing uranium, lead, cadmium and aluminum into lakes and rivers where local people fish and take water for their daily needs. In April 2021, Dr Emmerman's report confirmed that the water released by QMM in some places contains more than 40 times for lead and 50 times for uranium of the limits authorized by the WHO for drinking water. This report also pointed out that QMM violates Malagasy regulations by discharging water whose levels of cadmium and aluminum exceed legal limits...
On October 30, 2021, associations of communities in the villages around QMM demonstrated. They demanded compensation from QMM for this pollution and the destruction of their sources of income and blocked QMM trucks. Two ringleaders were arrested and taken into police custody.
The doctor sent by the family to check on the condition of the two ringleaders was not allowed to see them, nor were they allowed to go to the hospital.
On the morning of November 2, the two activists who were arrested [during protests the previous week] were to be presented to the Fort-Dauphin prosecutor's office... Fortunately, they were granted bail pending a court hearing in late November.
According to Dr Emmerman, there is an asymmetry of power between QMM and village communities, which is not compensated for by overly corrupt local authorities. What these arrests confirm... The state should support whistleblowers, not discourage them by arresting them and taking them into custody...